modern removable media drives

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Fri Nov 13 15:45:55 1998

At 03:39 PM 11/13/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>2. Magnetic fields that are strong enough to overcome the coercivity
> of the media. I find that refrigerator magnets, in direct contact
> with low-density media (i.e. 5.25" 360Kbyte disks) will usually
> result in some bad sectors. With higher-density media, which has
> a higher coercivity, refrigerator magnets aren't strong enough in
> my experience. And unless you put the floppy in direct physical
> contact with the magnets in a PM motor or speaker, you aren't
> going to cause any damage. (I've worked with floppies and hard
> drives in close proximity to multi-Tesla cryogenic superconducting
> magnets without any problems, so speakers and motors don't scare
> me!)

Yes, that's what I was talking about. When someone warns you not
to put your floppies near magnets, particularly refrigerator magnets,
I defy them to do any damage with one. As I recall, aren't these
plasticized magnets magnetized in thin strips, and don't have
distinct "ends" like a bar magnet?

- John
Received on Fri Nov 13 1998 - 15:45:55 GMT